Malom utcai Cave

Malom Street Cave is one of the caves located in the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in Tata.

Description

In the inner area of Tata, the cave’s closed entrance is on the public space in front of the residential building at 19 Malom Street. The cave entrance opening at the bottom of the shaft is 2 m wide and 0.5 m high. The barrel‑shaped opening leads to a nearly horizontal cavity 0.3–0.5 m high, 1.5–3 m wide and 4.5 m long, which is very silted up. The cave was formed in Upper Pleistocene spring limestone, probably due to former spring activity, based on its rounded surfaces.

Research History

In mid‑June 2005, a road excavation opened the cave entrance as a result of debris washing from rainwater concentrated in the cavity. At the request of the Tata City Mayor’s Office, the site was examined. Because of the dimensions and formation of the cavity that opened at a depth of 1–1.2 m at the bottom of the excavation, it was classified as a cave. The exploratory work began with the clearing of the excavation and deepening to a depth of 2 m. The Mayor’s Office arranged for the removal by container of about 3 m³ of material (mainly stone‑debris sand and construction rubble) extracted from there.

After the entrance height was successfully enlarged to a walkable size, the collapsed debris was also removed from the cave's small flat chamber. No further exploration possibilities were found in it, so its investigation was discontinued. No traces of life were detected in the cave. During its exploration it was relatively dry, but according to mud traces on its side walls and ceiling it can become completely filled with water periodically during larger precipitation events. In 2005 two members of the Gerecse Cave Research and Nature Protection Association, Márton Juhász and Márk Krkos, surveyed the cave. Based on the survey Márton Juhász prepared a floor plan map with two cross‑sections and a longitudinal section map. At that time the cave's photographic documentation was produced.

At the end of 2005 the collapsing sides were secured with a concrete retaining wall, on top of which (at street level) a horizontal 60×60 cm hinged slab door was installed. The closure of the cave was required to eliminate the hazardous situation created by the road construction as soon as possible and to ensure proper protection of the cave.